Melodious Colombian Spanish resonates in a hospital caring for wounded soldiers fighting Russian forces in eastern Ukraine.
Ukraine’s ranks are depleted after two years of war. As they confront the Russian war machine, Ukraine welcomes fighters hardened in one of the world’s longest conflicts.
Professional soldiers from Colombia bolster the ranks of volunteers from around the world who have answered Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s call for foreign fighters to join his nation’s war against Russia.
A 32-year-old man from the city of Medellín was trying to save a wounded colleague in three days of intense fighting against Russian forces. Russian drones attacked the group and shrapnel from a grenade thrown by one of them pierced his jaw.
The man, whose battle nickname is Checho, said he thought he was going to die. The fighters insisted on being identified only by their nicknames because they fear for their safety and that of their families.
He added that they got up and decided to flee the post to save their lives, because there was nowhere to hide.
Colombia’s military has fought drug cartels and rebel groups for decades, and its soldiers are some of the most experienced in the world.
With an army of 250,000 troops, Colombia has the second largest army in Latin America, after Brazil’s. More than 10,000 retire each year. And hundreds are heading to fight in Ukraine, where many earn four times or even more than veteran non-commissioned officers in Colombia.
According to Andrés Macías, from the Externado University of Bogotá, Colombia has a large army, with highly trained personnel, but the pay is not very good compared to other armies. Macías studies the work of Colombians for military contractors around the world.
Retired Colombian soldiers began traveling abroad in the early 2000s to work for U.S. military contractors protecting infrastructure, including oil wells in Iraq. Retired Colombian army personnel have also been hired as trainers in the United Arab Emirates, and have joined the battle in Yemen against the Iran-backed Houthi rebels.
Colombia’s role as a recruiting site for the global security industry also has shadier and more mercenary corners: two Colombians died and 18 were arrested after being accused of participating in the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse.
At the military hospital that normally cares for wounded Ukrainian soldiers, a group of about 50 Colombian fighters spend most of their time staring at their phone screens: calling home, surfing the Internet and listening to music between meals and medical treatments, mostly for minor injuries.
While the battlefield with Russia is at a stalemate, Ukraine is expanding its system that allows people from around the world to join the Ukrainian military, said Oleksandr Shahuri, an official at the Foreigners Coordination Department in the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
As of early 2022, authorities said 20,000 people from 52 countries were in Ukraine. Now, maintaining the secrecy surrounding any military figure, authorities will not say how many are on the battlefield, but they do say that the profile of the combatants has changed.
The first waves of volunteers came mostly from English-speaking countries or those that were part of the former Soviet Union. Speaking Russian or English made it easier for them to integrate into the Ukrainian army, Shahuri explained.
Last year, the Army developed an infrastructure of Spanish-speaking recruiters, instructors and junior operational officers, he added.
Héctor Bernal, a retired former combat medic who runs a tactical medicine center outside Bogotá, says that in the last eight months he has trained more than 20 Colombians who later went to fight in Ukraine.
He said that they are like Latin American migrants who go to the United States in search of a better future, they are not volunteers who want to defend the flag of another country. They are simply motivated by economic necessity.
While generals in Colombia earn around $6,000 a month in salaries and bonuses, the same as a government minister, private soldiers must make do on a much more modest income.
Corporals in Colombia receive a basic salary of around $400 a month, while experienced drill sergeants can earn up to $900. The minimum monthly wage in Colombia is currently 330 dollars.
In Ukraine, any member of the armed forces, regardless of citizenship, earns a monthly salary of up to $3,300, depending on their rank and type of service. They are also entitled to up to $28,660 if they are injured, depending on the severity of their injuries. If they die in combat, their families will receive compensation of $400,000.
Checho says his principles led him to travel to kyiv last September. He estimates that in his unit alone there were around 100 other combatants from Colombia who had made the same trip.
He knows there aren’t many of them, but he says they try to do their best to make things happen and see a change as soon as possible.
In Colombia, news about recruitment to the Ukrainian army spreads mainly through social networks. Some of the volunteers already fighting in Ukraine share information about the recruitment process on platforms such as TikTok or WhatsApp.
But when something goes wrong, getting information about loved ones is difficult for family members.
Diego Espitia lost contact with his cousin Óscar Triana after Triana enlisted in the Ukrainian army in August 2023. Six weeks later, the retired soldier from Bogotá stopped posting updates on social media.
Since there is no Ukrainian embassy in Bogotá, Triana’s family sought information at the Ukrainian embassy in Peru and the Colombian consulate in Poland, the last country Triana passed through on her way to Ukraine. No one responded.
According to Espitia, they want the authorities of both countries to tell them what happened, to respond to their emails.
The Associated Press located a Colombian fighter who uses the nickname “Polar Bear” and says he was the last person to see Triana alive on October 8, 2023. It reported that Triana’s unit was ambushed by Russian forces in the region from Kharkiv and after that his fate was unknown.
The Ukrainian military unit where Triana served confirmed to The Associated Press that Triana is officially missing, but did not reveal any details about the circumstances under which that occurred.
Espitia, his cousin, says he is not sure what motivated Triana to fight in Ukraine. But the 43-year-old had served in the Colombian army for more than 20 years and had found leaving it mentally difficult.
It could have been because of the money or because he missed the adrenaline of being in combat. But he didn’t talk much about his reasons for going, Espitia added.
After almost three weeks in the hospital, Checho has returned to the Ukrainian front. More than 50 Colombian combatants who were treated at the same center have also done so.
The situation here is tough, Checho told the AP, adding that they are under constant bombardment, but they will continue to fight.
